Ryan Tannehill had an excellent game despite porous protection. Tannehill completed 67% of his passes for 319 yards and 1 TD (107.4 rating) despite being sacked 5 times. Two games in a row, he is looking like a true NFL QB.

Mike Wallace showed up big with 9 catches for 115 yards and 1 TD. Wallace had an excellent game and looked like one of those "elite" receivers you see sometimes on other teams.

Charles Clay had his second good game in a row, this time catching 5 passes for 109 yards and rushing for 1 TD.

Brian Hartline delivered his typical productive game, with 5 catches for 68 yards and a couple of tough catches in key points of the game.

The running game gained 101 yards and a big part of that was Lamar Miller with 14 carries for 69 yards (4.9 ypc) and 1 TD.

Brent Grimes spent most of the day covering Reggie Wayne and held him to 5 catches for 46 yards and had an incredible interception and should have had two. The only blemish was getting beat by T.Y. Hilton for a 47 yard bomb, but he has step for step with him and simply got out jumped.

Caleb Sturgis has ice water running through his veins. He hit a 54 yarder, and despite the Colts trying to ice him on the play with a timeout, he came right back and drilled it again.

The Bad

The offensive line blocked better in the run game, but allowed 5 sacks. Jonathan Martin and Tyson Clabo in particular struggled against the speed rushing from the Colts outside linebackers. Unacceptable pass protection for Ryan Tannehill.

The pass rush controlled the game last week. This week, the Dolphins had trouble getting to Andrew Luck, who is also protected by a porous offensive line. Even when blitzing, the Dolphins had trouble getting to Luck. Wake had a quiet game with only one tackle.

The Ugly

Ellerby and Wheeler had 26 tackles combined, but had trouble covering Coby Fleener and backs out of the backfield. These guys were brought in to shut down tight ends and it isn't happening right now.

Offensive play calling still less than imaginative. Throwing to the fullback in the flat on 3rd and inches? Against the Colts... really? The Dolphins running game was shredding the Colts and we went pass happy in the first half. I just feel watching the play calling that Sherman is distracted surfing datingforseniors.com.

Overall

Huge win for the Dolphins. 2nd win on the road and it came with Tannehill and Wallace having huge games, which is what Dolphins fans want to see. While the offense still has work to do and the defense had an uneven day, the Dolphins won the type of game they would lose in years past. Last year, the Dolphins lost many close games late in the game. This season, they seem to be turning that around.

Next up it gets a lot tougher as the Atlanta Falcons come to Miami.

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Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:32 pm

AQNOR

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Nice write up as usual Rich. Part of that bad you mentioned about our D-line in not getting to Luck was letting him get free to run 4 times for 38 yards. That really hurt the Phins at times.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:15 pm

Makchell

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Good write up. Miller looks legit and we put Thomas in. This is the kind of garbage that killed our momentum in the past.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:18 pm

AQNOR

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Makchell wrote:

Good write up. Miller looks legit and we put Thomas in. This is the kind of garbage that killed our momentum in the past.

Hmmm I think I disagree with this one. When Thomas went in he looked all right in my opinion.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:35 pm

NFLJunkie

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Miller was getting huge chunks though....why take him out

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:38 pm

AQNOR

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

NFLJunkie wrote:

Miller was getting huge chunks though....why take him out

Good point. Riding the hot hand, so to speak, does make sense. I think Miller gave up a sack but I don't remember exactly when. Of course if they brought in Thomas for better pass protection ... well that did not exactly work out.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:43 pm

NFLJunkie

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

"Datingforseniors.com" lol....I was thinking the same thing and I was only listening. RT's completion % probably saves Sherman's bacon more often than not. I think the 2nd QB sneak was questionable as well...

Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:53 pm

jammer

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Great game. I was pacing across my living room the entire 2nd half. It just felt like that typical letdown game and wow was it awesome to see Miami hold their ground.

The play calling in the 4th was a bit bizarre. Sherman was dialing up some good balance in the 1st quarter and then went whack job. I honestly thought Dion Jordan's non sack was going to cost Miami the game. Thankfully Grimes bailed him out. I don't think Clabo is that good. Seems to get beat a lot.

I agree with all of Rich's good. Tannehill looks legit. Still some room to grow but I'm no longer terrified of a pick every time he drops back. Thought Miller and Thomas did very well with what was given. Wallace had the big game and the numbers but I love that Hartline is on this offense. I'd seriously argue he is the best receiver on the team in terms of being clutch.

Sturgis...not human.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:06 pm

bobby0112

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I don't remember Miami getting any penalties for the entire game. Tannehill fumbled 3 times but only lost 1.

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Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:07 pm

Rick

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The ugly should mention the 3 or 4 times the defense could not finish a tackle on Luck. We made him look like freaking Houdini.

The ugly should mention the 3 or 4 times the defense could not finish a tackle on Luck. We made him look like freaking Houdini.

Was just about to mention that. Luck made Starks look stupid a few times, and Jordon made Jordon look really really dumb at least once. Should have been a 4-5 sack game.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:38 pm

Steve Zissou

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

NFLJunkie wrote:

"Datingforseniors.com" lol

That made me laugh out loud too!

jammer wrote:

The play calling in the 4th was a bit bizarre. Sherman was dialing up some good balance in the 1st quarter and then went whack job.

Again, this guy is exhausting. I mean, he made me look credible on the first drive using Wallace but then it was like he stopped listening to me. But seriously, the O-line is bad like Rich said so we need to keep the offense progressive.

That 3 play touchdown drive was a thing of beauty. Had me thinking we were going to smoke them.

We were up 14-3 and looking mighty good.. but Andrew Luck is a man amongst boys out there... nearly made another incredible comeback.

Dion Jordan... wrap him up! This ain't patty cakes son!

Good win.

Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:20 am

Rich

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

IamPZ wrote:

That 3 play touchdown drive was a thing of beauty. Had me thinking we were going to smoke them.

We were up 14-3 and looking mighty good.. but Andrew Luck is a man amongst boys out there... nearly made another incredible comeback.

Dion Jordan... wrap him up! This ain't patty cakes son!

Good win.

I got the impression that Dion Jordan thought Luck had already thrown the ball and pulled up to avoid a roughing the passer penalty. If you go back and look at the play, Luck was pump faking right before Jordan arrived.

Rookie mistake.

That being said, he made a beautiful move to get in Luck's face. He just has to wrap up next time.

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Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:27 am

Makchell

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

That being said, he made a beautiful move to get in Luck's face. He just has to wrap up next time.

You can clearly see the kid has a lot of potential. Mistakes happen, but like you said, he made a killer move.

Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:30 am

Rock Sexton

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Most important things for me were it was yet another road win .... and then the maturation of Ryan Tannehill. As a fan I'm feeling much better heading into the big showdown with Atlanta this upcoming Sunday, which will be the biggest test of this young season imo. When you've got a QB out there not turning the ball over, it increases your chances of a win substantially. Albeit, he did fumble it a few times admist the poor O-line protection. Tyson Clabo is looking like a matador so far this year.

These are the steps you'd like to see taken by a young squad trying to turn into something more. Two road wins. A win vs. a previous playoff team and now we've got an NFC Championship Game contestant coming to town. We're still struggling a bit in coverage vs. TE's .... what's new though, LOL seems like that's been the case forever and looking around the league seems to be pretty commonplace. One thing I still want to see Ryan do is taking more advantage of the middle of the field. He's apt to focus quite a bit on the sidelines.

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Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:35 am

Rich

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Rock Sexton wrote:

One thing I still want to see Ryan do is taking more advantage of the middle of the field. He's apt to focus quite a bit on the sidelines.

Maybe.

8 of his 34 attempts were to the middle of the field. His big play to Clay was deep down the middle of the field. He's starting to look there a lot more than he did last year with Gibson and Clay as receiving options.

Hartline is always going to work the sidelines and Wallace is going to do the same for the most part, so those guys are going to get the bulk of the targets as the season goes on.

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Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:50 am

Rich

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Rock Sexton wrote:

One thing I still want to see Ryan do is taking more advantage of the middle of the field. He's apt to focus quite a bit on the sidelines.

Upon further inspection, I looked at the pass by direction chart from PFF.

Most of Tannehill's passes were to the middle of the field.

He was 15 of 19 for 199 when working the middle of the field.

He only had 5 attempts to the left, completing 3 for 41 yards (this was the side Vontae Davis lined up for the most part).

When going right, Tannehill was 5 of 6 for 79 yards and 1 TD.

Tannehill's hot spot was down the middle for throws that travelled 10-19 yards. He was 5 of 5 for 136 yards in this area of the field.

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Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:57 am

Kev1321

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Daniel Thomas gave up a sack on a whiff..Tanny held the ball way to long one time. But Clabo....Oh my!

Thomas also tripped over a blade of grass once...I just can't help but think someone somewhere would be better than him

Egnew had a good seal block on a TD run

Mon Sep 16, 2013 12:34 pm

swerve13

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Rich wrote:

IamPZ wrote:

That 3 play touchdown drive was a thing of beauty. Had me thinking we were going to smoke them.

We were up 14-3 and looking mighty good.. but Andrew Luck is a man amongst boys out there... nearly made another incredible comeback.

Dion Jordan... wrap him up! This ain't patty cakes son!

Good win.

I got the impression that Dion Jordan thought Luck had already thrown the ball and pulled up to avoid a roughing the passer penalty. If you go back and look at the play, Luck was pump faking right before Jordan arrived.

Rookie mistake.

That being said, he made a beautiful move to get in Luck's face. He just has to wrap up next time.

that play reminded me of Mathuias Kiwinuka letting go of Vince Young, and I think it cost them the game.

Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:00 pm

swerve13

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

so where was Gibson all day? I was surprised he wasn't more involved.

Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:05 pm

Kev1321

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Re: Dolphins 24, Colts 20 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

swerve13 wrote:

so where was Gibson all day? I was surprised he wasn't more involved.

Has he always dropped the 1st pass thrown to him.Two weeks in a row now